Have you heard?????

Have you heard? HGTV has decided to publish a magazine!!!! I saw a whole show about it over the weekend (is that marketing or what?!?) It told how the magazine is put together, what some of the regular columns will be and how it all came together.

The first issue is supposed to come out October 4. Then I believe it said there will be one more before January and then starting in 2012 it will be every month.

I love HGTV. I enjoy all the tips and tricks they have but do miss the crafty shows they used to have. I hope that there will be room in the magazine for a little bit of craftiness as well as lots of decorating and home improvement ideas.  I can't wait for the first issue!

Here's the link if you want to try it too!!

https://subscribe.hearstmags.com/subscribe/splits/hgtvmagazine/hgtv_sub_nav

(I am not getting paid in any way for this post!)

Expectations

I had a post about expectations planned for last week. I wrote about how I expected our life to go once Jake and I got married. I wrote about how I thought adoption would work for us. Then I realized- I just made scamming us a whole lot easier. So I didn’t publish the post.

It is unfortunate that anyone involved with adoption has to worry about people who are less than honest. This can be anyone from the adoption professional (lawyer, caseworker, agency etc.), to the adoptive parents or a potential birthmom (I don’t mean the expectant moms who change their mind- that is different than looking for hopeful adoptive parents knowing you will not place and building a relationship with them).

But back to expectations. . . we don’t know how we will connect with an expectant mom looking to make an adoption plan. We keep trying to get our names out there in the hopes that we will have the opportunity to be parents.

Sunday Thoughts

It's Fall (for real!)

from Pinterest

Fall is here! We have a few leaves starting to change and the temperatures are MUCH cooler.  The leaves aren’t this brilliant yet, but they will be soon.

I love fall. I love decorating the house with pumpkins and fall wreaths and other great knick knacks. (I have tons of crafty things bookmarked!) Fall is the start of the holiday season! Halloween is coming and it will be Thanksgiving quick and then CHRISTMAS!  Christmas is my favorite holiday. We have great food, the house is so cheery and festive and we enjoy being together to celebrate!

This year we are trying to add more local flavor to fall. We went to the Greek Fest and we are going to try some other local festivals.  They are much more fun with less humidity!

It is getting cool enough for chicken chili, apple bread and other great fall food. Stay tuned!

Sunday Thoughts

Greek Fest!!

We went to the Greek Fest this year. It was so much fun. We got there early and so parking wasn’t a problem (we will have to remember that for next year!).

Us before we ate all the Greek food!

We walked around a bit first but decided to get some food first. They had trays made up and you chose the tray you wanted. I chose the Greek chicken and Jake had the lamb! It was SO MUCH FOOD! All the food was wonderful and we found a place to sit inside (with the AC!!) and enjoyed the food and the dancing. They had kids (they looked to be 10-14 years old) performing traditional dances. 

Greek Lamb with pastichio and other great food!

Greek chicken with pastichio and other great food!

Then we went outside to look around. We saw many booths with things to buy (jewelry, clothes, t shirts etc) and some deserts. We were too full for baklava but tried some loukoumades (fried dough like donut holes with honey, powdered sugar and cinnamon). We wanted to get 6 but somehow ended up with 12! They were delicious and will try them again next time.

Little children performing traditional dances. They looked like they were 4-8 years old.

The only thing I wanted but didn’t get was a gyro. We were just too full. Luckily this festival comes every year so next year we will go again! The weather was great and the entertainment wonderful.  If  there is a Greek fest in your area- give it a try!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Me with my mom!

My mom had a birthday over the weekend!  I called her to wish her a happy birthday.  It took a couple tries because she was talking to someone else and we got to talk for a long time.

My mom got to be stay home mom for a long time. She was a teacher before I was born and went back to teaching when my youngest sister was about 6 or 7.  I remember her baking cookies and bread and being there when we got home.

Once I got into high school, my mom was still there to help with whatever I needed. She read and edited LOTS of papers for English classes!

Even now she is the first person I call when we have good news! She is a wonderful grandma for my brothers and sisters kids and I can’t wait for her to be a grandma to ours!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunday Thoughts

Remember: 

Books! Books! Books!

I love reading to children. I love children’s literature. (My dream job is to have a children's book store like Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail!) It is so fun to try new books and see what works and what children like. I remember getting the book orders as a kid and pouring over them deciding what books looked good and what I wanted to buy. Now when we go to Costco we always look at the book section! I rarely buy but do look and then go to the library to check out the books that looked interesting.

When my brother and sisters and I were little, my mom took us to the library every week. Because it was hard to keep track of all the books; my mom let each of us get 5 books (that’s 25 books!). It worked pretty well. Once we got older and could keep track of our books, we could check out as many as we wanted. Yeah!

My mom read so many books to us as kids. She didn’t like to read Dr. Seuss books since he loves made up words. My dad would read them to us –even Fox in Socks (it is full of tongue twisters!) They were both great to read the same books over and over to us. Kids do love to hear books over and over!

Do you have favorite children’s books?

Happy Birthday Tom!

Today is my brother Tom’s birthday. He is the middle child in our family (which he likes to remind us of often!) but  also the oldest boy (does that cancel out being the middle child?).  Tom loves to joke and have fun. He tells great stories that are mostly true. He has always been very goal oriented, even as a kid; and got his jobs done before anyone else so he could do what he wanted on Saturdays.  

I called to find out how his birthday is going. Tom has kids of his own now and said they are celebrating on Saturday. The kids have scouts tonight, sports tomorrow, a camp out on Friday and that leaves Saturday. I thought that would give everyone time to anticipate the great day. He said it will give them time to buy better presents.  Tom was home alone with the baby so no one else knows to buy better presents.  (If they had been home he would have said it louder and waited for comments!)

Tom (far left) with the rest of us!

Happy Birthday Tom! Hope you get some great presents!

New Recipe!

We tried another new recipe this weekend! Slow-Baked Mac and Cheese! It was wonderful (and super easy. I followed the recipe with a few changes- we didn’t put the bread crumbs on the top (it reminded Jake a bit too much of Tuna Casserole) and when the directions say wait until the butter is room temperature- they mean it. I was impatient and didn’t wait as long as it said and the cheese wasn’t as smooth as I was expecting.

We had the Mac and Cheese with steak (top sirloin) and green beans and it was very good. All the flavors went together very well.  I think the mac and cheese would also go with pork or chicken. We may try it with a different blend of cheeses next time!

Here's the link:

http://whiskandaprayer.blogspot.com/2010/08/magazinecookbook-monday-slow-baked-mac.html

Let me know if you try it!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

We had a very relaxing day! We were able to get lots of things done (laundry, chores around the house, etc) and enjoyed having a day off.  We are sad to see the summer go but glad that cooler weather and fall activities are coming! Here comes the pumpkin bread, apple cake and fall leaves!

Summer isn't the only thing that is gone. Unfortunately, today our grill was used for the last time. We grill A LOT. Even in the winter. It has been well used and served us well but it has rusted through. There are only a few flames that still come up so cooking the food takes a VERY long time.  

See the rusted hole? That's just the start of the holes!!!!

We are going to have to get a new one. Today is the end of summer so I hope there are still a few grills left!

Staying Positive

Some days being positive through the adoption process (or fertility treatments or any challenging time) is harder than others. Hopefully this will help! Take as many positive thoughts as you need!